A couple more older photos. The lighting is pretty bad and they were taken on a mobile. I've tried to correct as best I can but they're not great to begin with.
Upper main hull (starboard). The most obvious problem here is that the ribs just merge into the plating on the dorsal surface.
Upper main hull (port side). You can see that I've chiselled out area to recreate the ribs and the appearance of armour plating. I should probably have continued chiselling another millimetre higher for proper accuracy but I felt it would severely compromise the integrity of the model and it wasn't worth the time and effort to fill in the back side of the curve so I could chisel deeper. That one piece had over 100 points that needed fixing so near enough is definitely good enough.
This armour plating is one of the more annoying issues to fix. To keep the production costs down the designer has taken short cuts, basically moulding the armour plate on. The nature of injection moulding means no undercuts, which results in some pretty ugly areas. This is from somebody else's build but you can see how thick the armour plating is compared to the CG model. In the first picture above you can see I've filed down the armour plating on the head. As of last week I've made replacement plating too, and it's a vast improvement.
Yep, I forgot to say above but it should be about 35cm from the bow antenna to the engine exhaust. I believe the CG model was actually the basis for the design so it inherits some of the quirks from the show. Chief among them the fact that the landing bays don't actually fit inside the ship! If you watch the show carefully you'll notice they're always very careful about what angles they show the bays opening and closing from in order to hide this.Originally Posted by Deonasis
Yeah, 3 pages worth of water slide decals in the third party set, probably hundreds of individual decals, covering all the armour plating and the spaces in between the ribs. I've actually had a rethink in the last week and decided not to use the rib decals as I think they'll make it look too busy. Instead I'm glueing small chips of styrene into all the rib spaces to give it some physical detail without the cluttered appearance. Another boring and tedious process, but hopefully worthwhile.
My general work flow with decals is to lay down a gloss coat first to seal the paint and provide a smooth surface for the decals to adhere to. When cutting the decals, use a sharp hobby knife and score around the edges of the printed artwork to trim off the excess decal film. Dip the decals in warm water for 10-20 seconds, then rest on a damp paper towel, don't leave them in the water till the adhesive dissolves completely. After another 20 seconds or so the decals should move freely. Wet the surface of the model and using a soft wet paint brush slide the decals off the paper onto the model. You should be able to slide it around fairly easily to get it in position, then gently squeeze out any water from underneath the decal with a damp cotton bud.
I'm a big fan of Microscale MicroSol, which is a decal setting solution. I wasn't keen on decals until I tried this, but it really is fantastic. Just brush it on to the decal after it's placed and it will soften the decal film, helping it to adhere to contours (may still need to run a knife along any panel lines) and look like it was painted on. It makes the decals very fragile but I've found it pretty easy to work with. Don't be alarmed if the decals curl and wrinkle up - they should settle back down as they dry, and if you get any air bubbles just pop them with a knife and reapply a bit more MicroSol. You may need to use a cotton bud to squish down the decals if the film is particularly thick.
Once the decals are down, reapply another gloss coat to seal, apply any weathering or washes, seal again, then matte/satin coat if desired.
I've not worked with aftermarket decals before, but I understand they can be more fragile than those typically included with kits. You can buy liquid decal film from hobby shops that you can spray or brush on to the decals (before use) to give them a bit more strength.
This is my 1/1000 refit USS Enterprise from a few years back. All the detail in that picture except the blue dome at the back is done with decals. Took lots of pricking, squishing and microsol to seat them down properly but the end result is fantastic, if I do say so myself. I'd say they were painted on, if I didn't know better.
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.... man must been hard for the nacelles!!
